WT: "If nasty would do the work of revolution, no doubt we'd already be living in a democratic paradise, ...

But William, this is the democratic paradise. The people get every last little bit of what they truly ask for, and deserve. (and that is the shits of it all)

WT: " ... The truth is that change, to the extent that its either possible or lasting, requires a good deal more than telling people to go fuck themselves. It requires allies, coalitions, etc., none of which are likely ...

I have watched the Democrats run off more potential allies (even if only short-term ones) in my life time than we have voters. I have watched Democrats institute litmus tests on a bizarre range of issues (as have Republicans) so as to frustrate voters who wanted a 'different choice' than the Repugs. I have watched both parties unite to further perhaps the most evil foreign policy the world has ever seen.

When may I understand what change you are offering other that just ridding us of the latest criminal gang in the White House?

Pull all the troops from everywhere....

* No combat casualties

* Save enough money to pay off the entire debt

* The world will love us once again.

It truly is, the best of all possible outcomes. Well, at least for us anyway. That's all that counts, right? --shooter242

Shooter, that is a grand idea except for a few points.

The first is that we will never 'pay off the entire debt' as it is not possible. We could delay the day of reckoning a bit by stopping the trillion (or so) a year spent on killing.

The second is: the world will never 'love us' as we have a history based on mass murder and genocide and are as 'lovable' as a Detroit street gang. I have Filipinos in the close family, and they do not seem to be going to forget what we did to their country anytime soon. (give their people a few millennium)

We can hope that the world would someday respect us as a peace loving good neighbor. Perhaps someday the Americans will learn that killing people 'for their own good' is never a good idea no matter what political party is in charge. It took many more Americans than just the monster LBJ to get us into Vietnam, and we should all have learned a few lessons there that we never really did. The main lesson was never that we could not 'win' without mass murder by nuclear war as General LeMay lobbied for so often, even though that is true enough.

The main lesson was that we had no moral right to be there killing people who had never threatened us at all. We had even less right than Germany when it invaded Poland.

We have no moral right to kill others simply because we want cheap raw materials and oil. We claim that anything any government does anywhere on the planet is our business because our 'national interests' span the globe and give us the right to intervene if we deem it profitable to us in some way. This must stop.

-- Svensker: that would be "cowed by" or "cowering in front of (or behind or under, or next to, whatever)" the fanatics.

All grammar cops are dicks, it would seem.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cowered
intr.v. cow·ered, cow·er·ing, cow·ers

" In McCarthy Era, TV Networks Cowered; Harry Hopkins No Spy" ---> headline this year in the NYT!

You must be a damn yankee, as I have heard that one for a 1/2 century here in the south.

Re: " ...Bucky, did you just call me a dick? Or was that just a pun on grammar police? Or both? Any dicknitude I might have would have to be transgendered. (I can be a pretty good be-yotch, tho...) ..."

It was a reference to the whole 'grammar police' thread here about a week to ten days ago. It was not meant to be directed at you personally. Did you not participate in that 'police grammar' thread? If you were offended, my apologies.

However, anyone can be a 'dick' in these modern times. :-)